Regarding the Sept. 1 Kyodo article "Tepco plans to flood reactors, extract fuel": I find it simply amazing that the press continues to report the absurd pronouncements of Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials with a straight face. They have lied repeatedly about what they knew had happened. These lies have been revealed in government reports, and at least partially admitted to in small increments by Tepco.
Yet, Tepco officials go back and repeat the same discredited nonsense, and most of the media print it without question.
References to repairing the pressure and/or primary containment vessels, flooding them with water, and then extracting the fuel are simply ridiculous, because the molten fuel is almost certainly long gone from the reactor vessels.
The most likely scenario is that the fuel has melted entirely through the stainless steel vessels and has fallen 10 meters to the concrete dry well floor. It is very likely that some of it has continued to burn through toward the water table.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.